Clergy Sexual Abuse Lawsuit Filed Against St. Luke’s Hospital in Tokyo
A new lawsuit has been filed with the Tokyo District Court alleging that a woman was sexually abused while under the care of St. Luke’s Hospital at 10-1 Akashi-cho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo.
According to the lawsuit, the victim was a patient with an intractable disease and in need of spiritual care when she was admitted to St. Luke’s. While under the care of the hospital, the woman was sexually abused by the hospital chaplain while in his waiting room.
“Sexual abuse by clergy is a serious crime and has a lifelong effect on the victim,” said Harumi Suzuki, leader of SNAP Japan. “St Luke's International Hospital should sincerely apologize to the victim's and remove the perpetrator from his position.”
SNAP Japan is calling on hospital administrators to release information about the chaplain and make public any allegations of sexual abuse and share what they have done in response to those allegations. The best way to prevent cases of sexual abuse from happening again is to ensure that perpetrators are removed from positions of power and that all allegations of abuse are investigated by law enforcement.
The victim herself said “I'm very sad that St. Luke's International Hospital is working with the perpetrators to defend the organization.” She went on to say that “St. Luke's International Hospital should listen to the victim's true voice, take the problem directly, and take responsibility.”
CONTACT: Harumi Suzuki, SNAP Japan ([email protected], +81 5014519773)
(SNAP, the Survivors Network, has been providing support for victims of sexual abuse in institutional settings for 30 years. We have more than 25,000 survivors and supporters in our network. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)